BART riders worry strike could make travel miserable

BART riders say they worry a threatened strike on Monday will make their travel difficult, longer, inconvenient, and some aren't sure yet what they will do.

"I don't know how I will get around," said Dan McClure, an unemployed Oakland resident without a car who rides BART several times per week. " ... How do you get around to look for a job if the trains aren't running?"

While a short strike might not be too inconvenient for him, a long one would be, he said. BART unions have threatened to strike after their old contract expires at midnight Sunday, allowing riders to finish their Sunday night travel but there would be no trains to ride to work on Monday.

Dominic Campisi, a Walnut Creek attorney who regularly commutes to San Francisco, said he expects he would resort to taking a carpool with other friends, as he did during the last BART strike in 1997.

"Traffic will be a mess, but there are other ways to get around. They will take longer, though," Campisi said Friday during a wait for a train at the Walnut Creek BART station. "It will not be the end of the world."

David Levin, an Oakland attorney, said he would take a ferry to his San Francisco job if BART workers were on strike when he returns from a family vacation to Disneyland in about a week.

"I'm lucky I will be at the happiest place on earth next week, taking me away from the stress and tie-ups if there is a strike," Levin said. "If the strike continues when I'm back, I'll take the ferry."

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Rene Vandemeer, a journalist visiting Walnut Creek from the Netherlands for a month, said he is puzzled how he would get around in a strike.

"It's going to be very inconvenient without the BART trains," To make matters worse, his bicycle was stolen recently. "I don't know what I'm going to do," he said.

Shelley Sun of Danville, a daily BART commuter, said she could be forced to drive to her software job in San Francisco if the trains aren't running, she's not looking forward to it.

"It's going to take a long time to get across the Bay Bridge," she said. "It will be very disruptive."